Expanding its codeshare pact with the Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways, Seychelles national carrier Air Seychelles today announced inclusion of New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata in its existing route network.
With the addition of codeshare routes, Air Seychelles now offers air services to nine Indian cities on Jet Airways' domestic network, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, an Air Seychelles release said.
"We are delighted to expand our codeshare agreement with Jet Airways to nine of the most dynamic and metropolitan cities in India, offering guests more flexibility, choice and seamless connections to and from Seychelles via Mumbai," Air Seychelles chief executive Manoj Papa said.
The expanded codeshare agreement also opens up key Indian destinations which are popular with the travelling public in Seychelles, such as Chennai, a city that many residents travel to for medical treatment, he said.
Codeshare is a commercial agreement between two or more airlines that share the same flight, with all partners able to sell seats on that flight.
Air Seychelles also codeshares on international flights operated by Jet Airways and Etihad Airways between Abu Dhabi and Mumbai, offering customers an opportunity to combine a holiday to India or Seychelles with a stopover in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Interestingly, both Jet Airways and Air Seychelles are partly owned by the Gulf-based Etihad Airways.
While Etihad holds 24.5 per cent stake in Jet Airways, its holding in the Seychelles stands at 40 per cent.
"India is projected to grow into one of the world's largest travel markets and, through our codeshare network with Jet Airways, we are better positioned to drive more tourism traffic to the Seychelles archipelago," he said.
Since the launch of Air Seychelles' flights to Mumbai in December last year, tourism arrivals from India to Seychelles have seen strong growth, he said.
"Seychelles has recorded a 124 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of visitor arrivals from India between January and May 2015," the Air Seychelles executive added.
The airline is confident of maintaining this growth momentum with the enhanced connectivity in association with its codeshare partner Jet Airways, he said.
Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Cramer Ball said, "This codehshare expansion further strengthens our partnership with Air Seychelles and enables us to offer our guests seamless connectivity options on Air Seychelles' flights to Mahe and beyond, to Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi from more cities across India."
Jet Airways would continue to partner with Air Seychelles in enhancing connectivity to this region, he added.
